Yamaha TRBX504

134 Guitarist December 2013
QUICK TEST
MISCELLANEOUS
GUITARIST RATING
Guitarist says: A versitile looper
that can create huge, layered
compositions. In most cases
you’ll need the foot-controller, too
Electro-Harmonix may not be
the first name that comes to
mind when you think of looper
pedals, but in a way, the US
company were in right from the
start with the 16-second delay
from 1982, and its 2800 joined
the range in 2006. The latest is
the 45000 Multi-Track Looping
Recorder, an update of the 2800
with the addition of a dedicated
monitor output and an increase
in its recording capacity. It has
the ability to store up to 100
loops to a removable SDHC
card. The supplied 4GB card
allows up to 125 minutes of
recording, while a USB
connection enables transfer of
files with a computer.
In Use
The 45000 is set up like a
multitrack recorder featuring
four tracks, each with its own
fader and pan control plus a
stereo ‘mixdown’ track. A ‘loop’
in EHX parlance is made up of
anything you record on the four
tracks, so it’s effectively up to
four synchronised recordings
running together. The first track
you record sets the length of the
overall loop and you can record
freeform or with a quantize
function in place to keep your
timing solid. There’s an onboard
metronome for guidance, but
EHX has also provided a
selection of drum loops in 34
loop memory slots.
You can build up overdubs on
any of the four tracks and, if
desired, mix them down to the
mixdown track to free them up
for more recording. Overdubs
are also possible onto the
mixdown track, so there’s
potential for building up many
layers. You also get some loop
mangling facilities – reverse and
half-speed playback (one octave
down) are available with single
button pushes. There’s a speed/
pitch adjustment on a sliding
scale via the tempo control.
With a headphone output
among the many connections,
the 45000 is very practical as a
compositional or practice tool
that you can place on a table in
front of you, but as the unit itself
has no footswitches and no
display, you’ll need to buy the
optional footswitch if you want
to explore its full potential.
Connected by a standard guitar
lead it offers the footswitches
you need to control your loop
recording and playback,
including loop selection with
a numerical display.
Verdict
The 45000 is pretty easy to use
once you get your head around
it. It’s great for messing around
and being creative in a similar
way to how you might use a
Portastudio, but although you
can step through and select all
of the 100 loop memories using
the main unit’s interface, you
have to count button presses –
the footswitch opens up the
way to traditional looping.
At a total street price around
£450, the combination is
competitive with other multiple
track loopers such as those from
Boss and Pigtronix, which offer
fewer tracks but have
footswitch control of individual
tracks that some might find to
be more convenient. Choosing
a looper depends on whether its
feature set equates to how you
want to use it, and the 45000
with foot controller is a creative
and versatile package that ticks
plenty of boxes.
[TC]
A multitrack looper with tricks aplenty
CONTACT: Electro-Harmonix PHONE: N/A WEB: www.ehx.com
Electro-Harmonix
45000 and Foot
Controller
£359 & £95
GIT375.rev_quick.indd 134 10/31/13 12:03 PM